organic

RMA Updates Whole-Farm Revenue Protection

Dan Aquaculture, Economy, Organic, USDA-RMA

Organic and aquaculture producers will soon be able to benefit from updates that USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is making to the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection Plan. RMA is revising the plan of insurance to make it more flexible and accessible to producers beginning in crop year 2022. RMA Acting Administrator Richard Flournoy explains what plan does. Changes to the program include increasing expansion …

Almanac

2022 Farmers’ Almanac Released This Week

Dan Aquaculture, Beef, Cattle, Citrus, Crop Forecasts, Dairy, Drought, Environment, Field Crops, Irrigation, Livestock, Nursery Crops, Organic, Pollinators, Specialty Crops, Technology, Water, Weather

The 2022 Farmers’ Almanac hits store shelves this week and contains 184 pages of helpful tips, calendars, and guides to help you plan your year ahead. It also features weather forecasts for the next 16 months, plus useful advice on ways to take cues from nature to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Editor Pete Geiger states, “we encourage readers to …

heat-related

Avoiding Heat-Related Deaths

Dan Aquaculture, Beef, Cattle, Citrus, Dairy, Field Crops, Fruits, General, Hemp, Herbs, Labor and Immigration, Livestock, Nursery Crops, Organic, Pecans, Research, Specialty Crops, Sugar, Tree Nuts, Vegetables, Weather

A new University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) report showed 215 people in Florida died from heat-related causes in the last 10 years. The fact that heat-related deaths happen throughout the year surprised the researchers who wrote the report. Serap Gorucu, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering, helped write the report. She and …

label

Clarifying the Product of the USA Label

Dan Aquaculture, Beef, Cattle, Livestock, Marketing, Organic, Pork, Poultry, Rabbits, Regulation, Sheep-Goats, USDA

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced a top-to-bottom review of the “Product of the USA” label, which will inform a forthcoming rulemaking on this topic. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said “American consumers depend upon accurate, transparent labels to obtain important information about the food they consume. American farmers and ranchers depend upon those same labels to convey information about …

aquaculture

Auburn University Researcher Developing Management Practices for Aquaculture

Dan Alabama, Aquaculture, Research

While aquaculture is the fastest-growing sector of animal agriculture, sustainable expansion and intensification is hampered by issues related to aquatic animal health. That’s why Alan Wilson, professor and assistant director for instruction at Auburn University’s School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, is focusing on developing programs to help the aquaculture industry better manage problematic algae growth in ponds and other water sources. According to an …

farm

NIFA Invests $14 Million in Animal Health and Disease Research

Dan Aquaculture, Beef, Cattle, Dairy, Equine, Livestock, Pasture, Pork, Poultry, Rabbits, Research, Sheep-Goats

The Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced an investment of $14 million in research to protect agricultural animals from disease. The grants are part of NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s Diseases of Agricultural Animals program area priority. NIFA director Carrie Castille says, “This research will help better understand, diagnose, control and prevent diseases in …

grants

ELAP Now Includes Farm-Raised Catfish

Dan Alabama, Aquaculture, USDA-FSA

Aquaculture producers in Alabama now have access to disaster relief funding in the event of a federal disaster declaration. June 1 is when USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) began a policy change to the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees and Farm-raised Fish Program (ELAP). According to the Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES), the update makes fish raised for food and other aquatic species …

court

Ag Commissioner Fried on Water Wars Ruling

Dan Aquaculture, Florida, Water

(NSF) — After years of legal battling, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously rejected a lawsuit in which Florida argued Georgia has used too much water in a river system shared by the states. The 12-page ruling dismissed the lawsuit that Florida filed in 2013 after the oyster fishery collapsed in Franklin County’s Apalachicola Bay. Florida contended that Georgia …

aquaculture

UF/IFAS, FDACS to Help Teach Science, Engineering Through Aquaculture

Dan Aquaculture, Education, Florida, Research

Through a $64,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm to Schools program, the University of Florida and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) will help some Florida K-12 educators who teach science, technology, engineering, math, and agriculture start or strengthen aquaculture education programs. To apply for the program, follow the steps. The deadline for applications …

underserved producers

COVID-19 Impacts Mental Health on the Farm

Dan Aquaculture, Cattle, Citrus, Coronavirus, Field Crops, General, Industry, Livestock, Nursery Crops, Organic, Specialty Crops

A strong majority of farmers and farm-workers say the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their mental health, according to a new American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) poll. The poll also indicates that more than half say they are personally experiencing more mental health challenges than they were a year ago. The survey of rural adults and farmers/farmworkers reveals how the pandemic …